Content With This World or Encouraged By Heaven

It may be that we are just too content here.  We are just fine with the way things are.  Money affords us the luxury of living without hunger, thirst, and, for the most part, pain.  If there are inconveniences, that's just what they are - inconveniences; most of which only need to be "fixed" before we die.  Make that note: get it all in before we die.

But do we really believe in heaven after we die?  Do we have hope that there is really a life that, for billions and billions of years, will be so much more familiar to us than this life?  Do we live in eager expectation of a time when things don't just get better or get fixed, but when all things are perfectly and gloriously recreated and are in complete subjection under Christ Jesus?

Do we believe that sacrificing things in faith, hope and love for others will really turn out to benefit us in heaven?  Does God reward those who diligently seek Him?

Does cancer, back pain, cerebral palsy, depression, bi-polar disorder, ingratitude, brutal persecution, and even unexpected death bring us to long for the day when we are "made perfect in holiness"?

I have to admit that I find myself quite content here, although I am slowly becoming less so.  It may be that I am getting older; and that my life as a husband, father and pastor now has more responsibility attached to it.  It may be that life is going by much faster than it ever has.

I trust that sanctification is playing a role as well - by His grace of course.  More than ever, I feel the loss of this worldly life with every step of obedience; from helping my children brush their teeth, to ministering in a more "dangerous" part of town than I'm used to.

Regardless of it all, I am becoming more aware and more convicted by the call to preach the gospel of Christ to as many as I can.  Ironically, going to the dark places (of my own heart as well as the hood) has enabled me to see more light.  I have seen the power of the gospel at work.  And I really like it.  I believe that Christ saves more now than ever.

In short, I am thankful that the Lord is enabling me to believe that heaven is worth giving up everything for.  My life is an absolute wreck right now; but I have never prayed more in my life.  Nor have I believed this much that Christ, via death, is truly gain.

I was encouraged today by Paul's words to the Thessalonians and I would like to leave those words with you.  It is my prayer that as the Lord sanctifies us, that we will be more and more encouraged by the truth of His inevitable return and by our glorious eternity in heaven:

For the Lord Himself will decent from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of GOd.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who hare alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words (1Thess 4:16-18).

Some Pretty Amazing Videos! Enjoy Your Friday!

You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

Cornelius Van Til once wrote, "Modern science holds not only to the idea of pure contingency or indeterminacy, but also to that of pure determinism."  In saying such, CVT is referring to the deep inconsistency of the unbeliever's position when attempting to formulate a coherent scientific argument for his atheistic case.

To rely heavily upon strict laws such as uniformity of nature, laws of gravity, and the speed of light, while making a case for the evolutionary view of chance, randomness, and openness is deeply contradictory, making such an argument completely incoherent and even absurd.

An example of this can be found in the common argument against the creation account found in Genesis.  I'd like to step back and say that the point of this example is NOT to defend a young-earth view, but to show how common arguments against it are logically inconsistent, thus proving to be no argument at all.  Until a consistent argument is put forward, the Genesis account remains not disproven.

Many unbelievers dismiss the biblical creation account by saying that we know that the earth is millions of years old.  The fact that there are galaxies and celestial bodies millions of light years away makes it empirically obvious that the universe that contains those bodies is at least millions of years old.

The formula is pretty simple: the light that radiates from those bodies travels at a constant speed; it takes millions of years for that light to reach our eyes (via regular sight or telescope, etc.); it follows then that those bodies, and the universe that contains them, are at least millions of years old.

Therefore, the Genesis account, they say, is incorrect.

But I see huge problems with this argument.  In my experience, many who dismiss the Genesis account because of this type of argument are deeply committed to an evolutionary theory of nature (one of "pure contingency or indeterminacy" and openness).  There was/is no creator, and thus everything happens and has happened by chance - a product of randomness.  Lifeless matter evolved over time to be what it is now.  And the evolutionary process continues.  Change is constant.

But why are the strict laws, upon which every single scientific argument is based, not subject to the evolutionary process?  Why is the speed of light somehow protected against evolutionary change?  I wonder if it is empirically possible to prove that the speed of light has remained a constant over millions of years, as well as under atmospheric conditions millions of light years away.  Further, why isn't the uniformity of nature called also into question by his evolutionism?

It seems to me that if evolution is embraced, then every so called constant is constantly subject to that change - even evolution itself!

These questions are frustrating to the unbelieving position.  If he remains committed to his worldview, the study of the historical universe becomes highly problematic; and what he "knew" must now be degraded from fact to mere unjustified, false belief.

Here we see CVT's observation in action - the unbeliever's deep commitment to unchangeable laws which form the basis for his argument that the universe is and has always been open, changeable, and random.  Unfortunately, it is impossible for an unbelieving position to have it's cake and eat it too.

If Jesus Had a Cell Phone

I am reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller.  The book so far is very good, very practical, and very inspiring.  Praying in our world is very difficult because we are so busy.  We have emails coming in, thoughts running around in our minds, and pressures coming from all directions.  Finding a snippet of time where we can be uninterrupted by another can be quite an obstacle.

I was greatly encouraged by Miller's comments about the life of Christ.  He writes: "But even a cursory glance at Jesus' life reveals a busy life.  All the gospel writers notice Jesus' busyness, although Mark in particular highlights it.  At one point Jesus' family tries to state an intervention because he is so busy (Mk 3:20-21)...But he loves people and has the power to help, so he has one interruption after another.  If Jesus lived today, his cell phone would be ringing constantly...The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me.  If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy.  Learning to pray doesn't offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart."

I don't know why this makes me feel better.  I guess it is because my life feels like it is completely out of order.  No matter how hard my wife and I try, we just cannot seem to run a perfectly regimented home-machine that is without the constant "Bing!" and "Ring!" of the cell phone.  But, I know we love people.  And, a love for people and the gospel make for a pretty busy life it seems.

I am reminded now of Spurgeon and Calvin, both dying at a relatively young age due to illness and overwork.  When asked by a parishioner how he could get so many things done, Spurgeon replied something to the effect of, "Don't you know?  There are two of me."  I can only imagine how many interruptions he would have faced if he had a cell phone!

And these men - Christ, Spurgeon and Calvin (along with scores of others) - were devoted to a life of prayer.  In the midst of all of the interruptions, they communed with their Father in prayer.  Christ even had to wake up before everyone to find the time.

I pray that my life would resemble theirs.  That the grace of God would drive me to a busy life bathed in prayer to my Father.

A Little Lewis For You Concerning Nature vs. Supernature

Interest in evidence in order to obtain knowledge about a certain topic or fact must take the student a bit deeper than the evidence itself.  All "evidence" is interpreted by the one observing it.  To state it another way, all facts are interpreted by an underlying philosophy or deep-seated commitments.  Some call these presuppositions.  They are the lens through which one views and interprets the world around her.

C.S. Lewis describes this well in his book Miracles.  He says, "The question whether miracles occur can never be answered simply by experience.  Every event which might claim to be a miracle is, in the last resort, something presented to our senses, something seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted.  And our senses are not infallible.  If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been victims of an illusion.  If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, this is what we always shall say.  What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience.  It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question."

He goes on to speak about determining whether or not miracles happened in the past on the basis of evidence: "The result of our historical enquiries thus depends on the philosophical views which we have been holding before we even began to look at the evidence.  The philosophical question must therefore come first."

Lewis begins the chapter by giving an example of a lady who has seen a ghost.  However, because of her presuppositions that supernature does not exist, the concludes that she must be hallucinating.  In other words, even if God did come down, even if He worked wonders in our day, many who exclude super nature in their basic philosophy would conclude that there must be a natural explanation for it, and would spend their lives in search for such an explanation.  

We Cannot Repair What We Have Done.

Imagine a child as he sneaks into the corner to play with matches.  As he lights the first match he doesn't notice that he is a bit too close to the curtains.  Before he knows it, the entire house is in flames.  The family escapes and watches their home burn to the ground.

The child, with guilt welling up inside, knowing that his disobedience was the cause of this disaster, looks up at his parents and says these words: "Don't worry Mom and Dad.  I'm going to fix this."

They look down at the child with a depressed, but frustrated face knowing good and well that their five-year-old cannot even come close to repairing what has just been lost.  Sure, he is capable of the damage.  But he is completely unable to repair it.

And that is the irony of our situation.  We have the ability to damage, but the inability to repair.  We are immensely valuable, but extremely vulnerable.  Sin is not only tragic in that it condemns us; it is even more so because it violates an image bearer.  Tragedy lies less in the one who takes and more in that which is lost.

To make matters even worse, we, like the child, move immediately from damage to reparation.  We simply try and fix that which is broken.  When we hurt, we quickly try to heal.

The idea that we can make reparations for our sin devalues the one against whom we have sinned.  We forget that, as image bearers, we carry a divine value - not that we are gods, but that we are created in the image of God.  Penalties reflect the worth of the victim.  And if we believe we can pay sin's penalty, we devalue the One who has been transgressed.  Sin against God demands a divine payment.  We simply do not have the resources to pay.

Further, the reparation idea is extremely prideful as it overvalues our abilities.  In thinking we can repair things, we become God.  Our works have divine worth and are not to be thought of as "filthy rags."  So, not only do we think less of the victim (and of God), but we think too much of ourselves.

Last, reparations can only be made by Christ - the God-Man.  As Anselm so rightly said, "It could not have been done unless man paid what was owing to God for sin. But the debt was so great that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it, so that the same person must be both man and God."

So, when we sin, we should never skim past repentance.  We should value the image of God in the other, and ultimately the God we have sinned against.  And we should recognize our utter inability to repair what our hands have done.  This is why He is the Prince of Peace.  And this is why faith in Christ is critical for every relationship in life.  The Gospel is not about what we can do, but about what He has done.

Faith Is Not Blind Faith

Van Til was often accused of fideism - the view which assumes knowledge originates in a fundamental act of faith, independent of rational presuppositions; and, that Christian assertions are matters of blind belief and cannot be known or demonstrated to be true.  Fideism, we are told, is based upon a leap of faith and a negation of rational constructions.

Van Til's accusers could not be further from the truth.

In his work, Van Til's Apologetic, Dr. Bahnsen quotes Van Til who said, "Faith is not blind faith...Christianity can be shown to be, not 'just as good as' or even 'better than' the non-Christian position, but the only position that does not make nonsense of human experience."

Bahnsen further explains that, "Van Til's presuppositionalism explicitly aims to provide rational and objective proof of the inescapable and certain truth of Christianity...Fideism maintains that the believer cannot (and perhaps should not) offer rational grounds for the full certainty of Christianity's truth-claims.  Thus, Van Til is at the opposite pole from fideism, while his critics, ironically, stand closer to it, for they agree with it (to this extent) that full rational proof of CHristianity cannot be given.  Van Til aims for rational certainty, while his critics settle for far less, namely, probability."

If you are in the least bit interested in Christian apologetics, I would strongly suggest getting and digesting this book.  It will strengthen your faith, hope and love for God, as well as enlarge your heart for unashamed evangelism.

Have a Great Friday!

I have no categories for this or why I roll in the ground every time I watch!



And, this is my brother-in-law (KP) reenacting the above - even funnier!

This Is Our Logo.

I am grateful for my good friend Mike Phelon from Vision Communications Design for putting up with me long enough to get this done!  Good work on the logo Mike!

Now Take It All Away

I am coming to realize that everything I have, even the things that I worked very hard for, were for the most part, given to me.  In other words, any heights that I have reached - whether school, family, or occupational heights - I have reached them while standing on the shoulders of others.

When I was a child, I had a mother and father, both in the same home, who loved me.  My mother taught me constantly to be kind, orderly, and affectionate to others.  My father taught me how to shake a hand, how to hold a hammer correctly, how to do my work diligently, and that if I didn't hold onto the chain saw like a man, it would cut my face open!

More than loving me, they loved each other.  I learned very early that it was a "no-no" to expect a different answer from mom than I received from dad.  They were inseparable, and I knew it.

I hated Saturday mornings as a teen when my dad would wake me up to work outside.  We lived on a large piece of property, so if we were not mowing grass for hours, we were building a fence, raking leaves or changing the oil in the vehicles.  I now appreciate what my folks were doing.

A week after I received my license, I wrecked my truck.  I was careless behind the wheel and earned a $950 body shop bill.  My dad paid that for me so I could get my truck fixed - but, he then expected a hundred dollars a month for the next nine months.

I wasn't allowed to have a Nintendo.  I found out this week that it was because I wouldn't ever study. They were right.  I didn't like to study.  But my parents cared about my grades and did what was necessary to ensure that I was learning.  For punishment I had to read books.

I also remember learning a little more than school could teach.  My sophomore year in high school I was performing poorly in science class.  My dad told me that I was a man now and that I was responsible for my grades.  I could fail out of high school but then I'd have to deal with those consequences.

I remember my freshman year in college when I overdrew my bank account almost $650!  I didn't know, nor did I care, what those really thin pieces of mail from the bank were.  I threw them away. My mom was so gracious and helped me out of that bind.

I don't have any college debt mainly due to the sacrifices that they, along with my grandmother, made.  I was under the impression that I'd have to pay the money I borrowed from them back.  But a year after college, they canceled my debt.

Now - take all of this, along with thousands of other graces I failed to mention, away.

There are millions in our society without caring parents, who live in impoverished neighborhoods and have no real security in life.  No father.  And because mom works so much, no mother either.

No love, kindness, orderliness, or affection felt or taught on a regular basis.  Firm handshakes are replaced by many firm slaps.  No knowledge of how to use a hammer, drill, or saw - and their hearts are cut wide open.

No foundation of inter-parental love.  Mommy and daddy don't love, know, or care about one another any more.  Their life is an accident.  Everything is separable and unfaithful. Living with mom one day and mom's sister another.  Sleeping on someone's bed one day, and on someone's couch another.

Who will take me?  Where will I be tomorrow?  What stranger can I expect to meet today?  We thought these questions are only for the homeless adults who squandered their lives away; not, for children who are too young to pour milk into their own cereal bowl.

They have an x-box though; and they play it diligently all day, every day. Where else is the escape?  Where else can they find the comfort of predictable circumstances?

They are failing math, science, and social studies.  No one cares.  The school system doesn't care, why should mom?  They earn a diploma, but they can't read it.

Don't worry though, the fall won't be worse than their everyday experience.  There's no motivation for anyone to move up.  Nor is there consistent, intentional, truthful, and careful upward direction.  But they are loved - and they have a check to prove it.  There's no one to show them that money is rarely indicative of love.

But they have a cell phone.

And after a few months the bill is $650...like mine was when I was a junior in college.  Unlike me, they have no one to guide and teach them responsibility.  So, they toss the bill and the phone. Creditors call, but get no answer.  Later in life, they call a bank for a car loan so they can get to their new job.  And they get no answer.

But Pay Day Loans answers!  And they charge 50% interest.  Deal.  Debt.  Slavery.

When those shackles come off, both their pockets and their hearts are empty.  Desperation sets in. Ideas for action flourish without any moral guidance whatsoever.  So, instead of gripping the hammer or saw like our father taught us, he grabs the pistol like his friend taught him.  Then, in just a short time, he feels the first intense manly embrace he has felt in a long while.  Only it is a man in a uniform with a larger pistol than his own.

He is forced into orderliness by the handcuffs.  He gets the first consistent bed in his life - in prison - along with a judgmental eye from those, like you and me, who reached heights he will never see.  We read about him in the newspaper.   And while we watch him on the side of the road in an orange jump suit, we arrogantly say, "I did it, why can't he?"Or, "Why can't he just get a job like the rest of us?"  Or, "I can't believe how lazy his kind are!"

I have no other goal for this post other than to express my own growing awareness that things are not as clean as we'd like.  They are more complicated than we think.  They are not as easy as it was for us.  And it's going to take more understanding than we presently have.  Every good thing that we have, or have done, was purchased for us. It is only because of Christ that we can lay our judgments aside, in humble repentance, and direct those less fortunate than we to the One who took our judgment.

The truth is that we all need nothing less than redemption.  The problem is that redemption is more bloody than we would like it to be.

We Know Who We Love By Who Hates Us.

This past Sunday I preached a sermon about the world's relationship to Christ and Christians.  The passage was John 15:18-27, and one can barely get through the entirety of it without wrestling with what it looks like to be hated by the world.  I asked myself, "Scott, are you hated by anyone because of your relationship to Christ?"

As I prayed and thought about it, I came to some conclusions as to why Christians in America may not face the persecution or hatred that Christ speaks of in this passage (as well as other passages).  And as these conclusions sunk deeply into my heart, I became convicted.

We, as well as Christ's disciples, like to think of Christ as the Savior who presently relieves all physical pain, suffering, discomfort, and struggle.  The Jews at the time were looking for the Messiah who would save them from the hatred of their enemies.

But Christ is not that kind of Savior.  And, in this passage, he corrected their erroneous expectations.

Christ is a Savior that saves us from both the love of the world and the wrath of God.  In other words, while we were wicked sinners, we were fundamentally loved by the world (Jn 15:19) and, in a very real way, at war with God and under his sore displeasure (Ps 11:5).  But Christ changed this by his life, death and resurrection; so that, being his, we are now hated by the world and loved by God.  This is why Christians should expect hatred from the world, while being at peace with God.

Further, because we are Christ's servants, we should not expect to be above our Master.  Just as we are to serve as he served (13:16), we are to suffer as he suffered (v.20).  His "otherliness" brought hatred his way.  Similarly, our Christ-like-otherliness should bring hatred our way.  Being like Christ, we are not like the world.  And the world loves only those that are like the world.  To bring the point home, we cannot expect to be like Christ if once saved by Christ, we run from the world.

We must remember that Christ came to and loved a world that hated him (Jn 3:16).

This is where I was most convicted.  My life recites John 3:16 in a very different way than it is written. I say, "For God so loved the church (i.e., those who follow clean, moral rules such as "be nice and on time" and "think and believe the same things I do" and "don't inconvenience me" and "don't kill Christians") that he gave his only Son..."

But the text doesn't say that does it?

It says, "For God so loved the world..." not a cuddly lovable world (3:19); but hating, religious, hypocritical, dangerous, God-hating world.  Christ incarnated himself into a world where hatred was inevitable, but redemptively necessary (15:25).

With that said, it is very possible that the primary reason we don't experience hatred for our faith is because we are too busy loving as the world loves and not as Christ loves.  We love those that are like us.  We love our own, while Christ loves his enemies in order to make them his own (Rom 5:6-11). And that could very well be why he makes it a point to teach about election in this passage (v.19). We need to know that we were the very one's we are presently trying to keep ourselves from.  His choice alone changed us. Therefore, we need to love those who are like who we were so that they might be like Him.

In Case You Didn't Know...We're Moving!

Trinity Gardens is a small community of a little over 3,000 people, located just south of Prichard, AL. I often tell people that it serves as a patch that joins Prichard and Mobile together. It is a predominately African-american community with a median household income of less than $20,000/year. People take pride in the fact that they are from Trinity Gardens, and thus it has its own culture, its own contributions, as well as its own areas of difficulty, challenge and hardship.

Charlene Campbell has been going to the neighborhood for some ten years.  She visits the community center, offers a bible study and a snack to the kids who attended.  Her motive has always been very simple - to share the love of God that she has found in Jesus Christ.  Over the years it is obvious that Charlene loves the community.  But it is also very obvious that Charlene is loved by the community.

After meeting her two years ago, she invited me to visit with her.  I accepted the invitation.  My life hasn't been the same since. Not only did my family and I immediately fall in love with the neighborhood, we felt completely loved by the people there as well.  After two years of working in and with the community, we are tired of driving home. We are moving to Trinity Gardens.

You might be asking "Why?" Or, "What do you plan to do there?" Well, I cannot fully answer those questions right now, but I can share with you some of what the Lord has shown us up to this point. After Mission to North America affirmed our calling to church plant back in February of 2011, my wife and I, along with the session of Grace Community Church, began to pray about a location. As we did, it became clear that our relationships with those in Trinity Gardens could not be overlooked. Not only did my wife and I feel a strong call to the neighborhood, other leaders and co-laborers affirmed the call as well.

So the answer to these questions is rather simple. We are going for two reasons: first, because the Lord is calling us there; and second, because the Lord has shown us his love through the people there. While there are probably a thousand things we could do in the community, I strongly believe that our primary calling is very simple. People already know me as Pastor Scott. I want to be just that - a pastor who lives among the people. I am sure that particular ministries will take shape over time, but for the first year at least, my family and I want to get to know the community better, serve where we can, and live among those the Lord has called us to love.

We have already purchased property in the neighborhood and plan on moving August of 2012.  Please pray for us as we plan and build support for our move!

Just A Little Break

I am taking a small break from blogging.  I think this will be a good thing, even a necessary thing, for the following reasons:

First, I am taking a trip to Africa this week and will not be able to post while there.  For those of you who may be interested, my father and I, along with another friend, are going to Cameroon to visit a former seminary classmate (Gideon) who started Rekindle Children's Hope, Inc.  Lord willing, I will be back on the 19th of November.

Second, I would like to take some time to work on a small writing project with a friend of mine.

Third, I think it will be good for me to leave this fun, but unnecessary, part of my life for a time.  This will allow me time to search my motives for writing, as well as refocus my goals for the same.  It will also remind me that blogging won't save me.

Last, I really need to concentrate on other things right now.  There are areas of my life that need a lot of work and a lot of grace.  If you think about it, please pray that the Lord would give me a humble heart to serve my wife, children (including #4 on the way!) and congregation better.

I plan on starting back after Thanksgiving. So, until then, may the peace of God be with you and yours.

Rapping the Attributes of God - New Shai Linne

Get the album here for only $7.99.

Irony in Relationships

Funny Friday (10/28/2011)

It's towards the end of the month and my allowance is running very low.  Actually, I'm in the red.  I guess I won't be entering in my little girl's room until the first...

"No boys allowed in my room.  If you want to come in my room, you have to pay me a quarter."

In the Seminary of Soul

Eschatology


Sovereignty and Providence


The Immanence and Love of God


The Grace of God

Something About Soul

There is something about "soul" that grabs every human being. Soul moves a person beyond the intellect, beyond dignity, and beyond wondering what other people might think. Soul is what I think, what I feel, and what I am experiencing, while I am fighting and struggling this wilderness life.  When others stand by and observe, they too, are often moved into the world beyond - into they very heart of human existence.

I have often wondered what it is about Dave Matthews that I love so much.  Even when he is singing blasphemy (i.e., in the song What You Are or The Deed is Done), he is doing so with soul.  It is honest, transparent and moving.  It would be totally wrong at this point to correct what he is singing about - though correction is merited.  Soul demands an audience first, an instructor second (or fifth!).  For the most part we need to hear it before we instruct it.

Carl Ellis Jr., in Free At Last?, discusses the origins of soul in the African-American community.  I am deeply grateful for his insight because it helped me understand my own heart.  He helped me to understand why it is that I lack soul and why it is so uncommon for many in our communities to feel the depths of it.  Ellis writes,

The early masters, with few exceptions, had never intended that their slaves should become Christian.  However, this did not prevent the slaves from experiencing the power of the Word of God...Resistance to oppression is itself an expression of God's grace.  When a people are subjected to such oppression, they are driven inward, to the depths of the very humanity the oppression is trying to negate.  Any cultural expressions that emerge from such a suffering people will come from those human depths.  Other human beings who encounter these expressions will be affected at comparable depths.  This, I believe, is what LeRoi Jones meant when he described us as the "Blues People."  This cultural depth and the skills to express such depth are what is today popularly known as "soul."

It is because of these depths that the African-American church is very significant.  And it is because of the apparent lack of these depths that a lot of white churches are practically insignificant.  Theology mixed with oppression and suffering is powerful and authoritative as it commands the hearts of its audience.  It is not difficult to understand how theology worked out only over coffee lacks the power and authority mentioned above.  Theology with no "soul" often enters the mind where it is quickly forgotten or used as a means to gain one's own glory.

The African-American spirituals that were sung during the dark days of slavery where beams of meaningful light, filled with biblical eschatology, and pregnant with meaningful truth.  That is why I try to listen.  It is also why I long to worship with my brothers and sisters who are filled soul.

Unconditional Election: Breaking Down Broken Analogies

Analogies are common and useful tools that help us get a message across in an understandable way. Because we are hard-headed, getting truth into our skull is like trying to drive a nail into a brick.  We have to use every means possible, and there is something about analogy that does the trick.

But as useful as they can be, they can often be just as harmful.

In my context, false analogies often arise in discussions concerning the nature of God.  And because I am a reformed evangelical, these analogies are often used as discussions center around the doctrine of salvation - especially the doctrine of unconditional election.  The analogy goes something like this:

Imaging that a dozen children fell into a pool of water.  They are drowning.  As they reach for help, you stand on the edge and choose to save only three of them.  The others sink to the bottom and die.  I would call you a mean person.  God is not that way.  Your doctrine of election is therefore false.

You may have heard it put another way, but the gist is the same.  God is unfair and mean for electing some and not electing others.

This analogy, while very powerful, is also very false.  It does not describe the biblical picture of humanity or God truthfully at all.  It is true that people are "in a pool" and "drowning."  But that is about all that is not false about it.  Let's break it down.

First, the children.  If there is a skewed theology, it can commonly be traced to one's doctrine and understanding of man's sinful condition.  We are not children who accidentally fell into a pool.  We are a wicked people who chose to defy and rebel against a holy, good, and just God.

Second, the pool.  The pool is not merely water, but a sinful lifestyle that wicked people choose and love.  It is also a context of hatred towards God and not love for him.

Third, the actions of the people in the pool.  Wicked people who are willfully enslaved to sin are not reaching for God.  They are metaphorically running away from him, while at the same time, they hate him and would rather have him dead.

Fourth, the God who elects.  God is not sitting at the edge of the pool turning down those who would love to be saved by him (Jn 3:16).  Rather, he gives his own Son to die in order to rescue wicked sinners who are swimming headlong to the bottom of the very pool that is killing them.  As they rebelliously run/swim away from him, he mercifully chooses one saying, "No.  Not you."  Then he mercifully chooses another, "Not you either."

Simply put, our Lord never turns people away from heaven.  Rather, there are many who are turned around by God from running toward hell.

If the first [false] analogy is bought, one is left wondering and questioning how God could not choose someone.  The biblical analogy, however, is very different in that it should leave us all wondering how in the world God would choose to save any.  

We should be thankful and humbled that he chose us while we were sinners.  We should also beware of using analogies that distract and even dissuade us from such gratitude and humility.

Just Like You.

Everyone is always learning, watching, emulating...

The Rest of the Rest (10/22/2011)

Applied Theology
Anthony Carter describes the practical nature of our doctrine of justification.  It is unfortunate that many may know the doctrine in their heads but struggle to feel it in their hearts.  If anyone has been in involved in any sort of relationship, for any length of time, this article The Cross and Self Justification is a must read.  It will pin you down and force you to look upon the work of Christ in justifying sinners by faith.

Social/Politics
I was very thankful for this article The Forever Recession.  In it, Seth Godin discusses the implications of the current recession as well as those of the "forever recession."  Technology and pragmatic consumerism is taking us to places we have never been as a culture.  To act as if this is not happening, and to build strategies accordingly, is like building sand castles right at the shoreline.  All of the efforts are soon whipped completely out, because we fail to recognize and account for our current context.

Pornography
Al Mohler gives a sobering description of two types of men in our present over-sexualized, pornographic culture.  Take the time to read this.  I would also consider discussing it with young men that are within your circle of influence.

Funny
What can I say?  I love pranks!

Obeying God Without Even Knowing It - Some Thoughts on Christian Liberty and Law

Paul writes to the Romans, "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law" (3:31).  Similarly, James writes, "But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing" (1:25).  The law, for the Christian, is not some burdensome, tyrannous, Old Testament thing that Jesus abolished by his advent, death and resurrection.  On the contrary, it is a gracious and liberating gift from the Lord himself.

I say that it is liberating, not only because this is the biblical witness, but because it is the reality of the Christian experience.  Freedom, regardless of modern day definitions, is not being freed to do whatever a person wants.  Rather, true freedom is being freed to do, and to want, whatever the Lord commands.  When a Christian desires to do what he or she ought to do - that is freedom.

After saying this, I believe it is important to realize that we often allow our freedom in Christ to go unnoticed.  That is, we are often blinded to the reality that we almost unconsciously desire and do that which we are obligated by God to do.  A man kisses his wife before leaving for work without necessarily knowing he is following the command to love his wife well.  A young lady is excited to be at church on Sunday without actually recognizing the Lord's commands to fellowship with other believers.  And a wife joyfully sings while she prepares dinner for the household without intellectually acknowledging her duty to care for her husband and children.

For the Christian, the desire and ability to do what the Lord desires is more the rule than the exception.  When we do fall into sin, like when an argument between the above husband and wife happens, the law comes in and directs them both back to Christ.  I cannot think of a more gracious gift.

The heart of flesh (Ezek 36) which was ordained by the Father, purchased by the Son, and effected by the Holy Spirit, is the primary source of empowering liberty in our lives.  It runs deeper than our intellect and even directs our volition.  The law, in this sense, is truly written on our hearts.  It is, therefore, not uncommon for us to obey without even knowing it.  While this is a good thing, it is not good to leave the work of the Spirit unrecognized in our lives.

Failing to understand this, many tend to give most of their attention to the areas of life that demand a bit more sanctification than others - the areas of our lives where the law and our desires don't exactly match up.  If we focus on this, we become inclined to say that the law is more burdensome than liberating.  We are also more inclined to live lives of ingratitude, failing to thank him for the thousands of liberties the Lord has graciously given (see above).

But when we recognize the tremendous, blood-bought, grace of a changed and liberated heart, we are moved to give thanks and praise after we willingly love our spouse, when we joyfully serve a friend, and when we freely love the Lord who bought us.  He has made us free indeed!  And most of the time, it is not burdensome at all to do what the law commands (1Jn 5:3).

When Should We Pray - Before or After We Are Well?

It is not uncommon to feel as if we must get our life right before coming to church.  In our mind, we are too sinful to walk in the doors.  The Lord will not accept us this way.  This mentality not only infects our church life, but also our prayer life - that we must do things for God before we can ask things of Him.  Surely, we think, it'd be selfish to ask God for something, when we had just been so neglectful of Him.

I was overwhelmed today in my devotions from Psalm 51.  This is a common Psalm that many of us run to after falling into sin.  After all, isn't this what David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba?  What I have never noticed, however, is the amount of petitions that he brings to God.  I just counted twenty imperatives that David directed toward God in prayer:

v.1  Have mercy on me...
v.1  blot out my transgressions...
v.2  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
v.2  cleanse me from my sin!
v.7  Purge me...
v.7  wash me...
v.8  Let me hear joy and gladness...
v.8  Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
v.9  Hide your face from my sins...
v.9  blot out all my iniquities
v.10  Create in me a clean heart...
v.10  renew a right spirit within me.
v.11  Cast me not away...
v.11  take not your Holy Spirit from me.
v.12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation...
v.12  uphold me with a willing spirit.
v.14  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness...
v.15  open my lips...
v.18  Do good to Zion...
v.18  build up the walls of Jerusalem...

Take a moment to notice the order of the petitions - mercy, cleansing, revelation, healing, acceptance, renewal, restoration, endurance, evangelism, and glory.

David understood that he could not make himself good enough to come before God.  He understood that it was God alone who could, and, according to His own steadfast love, would do all that was needed to restore His servant to uprightness.  So David began asking.

We must not get this wrong.  The Lord calls sinners to ask Him for all they need.  Just as it makes no sense to go to the doctor after you have become well, it is equally nonsensical to "visit" the Lord after we think we are righteous.

When David was at his lowest, he asked most of the Lord.  His need for righteousness far exceeded his need for a large home or some pimped-out chariot (please excuse the expression). I, too, find that when I am having a good day I may whisper a prayer or two; and when I do, I ask for less than necessary things.

But, when I feel as if my world is falling apart, I take time to actually pray.  And in these prayers I find myself asking for commodities I cannot buy - like mercy, cleansing, revelation, justification, righteousness and so on - commodities that were purchased by the Lord Christ Himself when he died for sinners like you and me.

Funny Friday on Saturday! I Will Do This!

What's the Big Deal About Creation? Why Ex Nihilo Matters.

The truth that God created everything ex nihilo, or, out of nothing, is not just metaphysical in nature. It is more than just a brute fact that tells us how everything but God came to be. It is also ethical, with moral implications that reach into the depth of our being. While we may reduce the first few verses of Genesis to theological, or even scientific data, the biblical writers saw the first chapter of Genesis as deeply soteriological.

Sure they would have understood the theological truth that God created everything out of nothing; but this would have led them to humble worship, knowing that it implied that He also brought light to their previous darkness. He gave them life while they were spiritually dead.  Though the phrase, “Let there be light” speaks into the realms of creation, the same divine phrase echoes through the corridors of redemption.  It hit my ears some 12 years ago.

The apostle Paul made this clear to the church in Corinth saying, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

There was a time when each of us was without God and without hope in the world. We lived in darkness and were spiritually dead. Just as something doesn’t bring itself out of nothing, neither could any of us bring ourselves to life when we were dead. In our darkness, we could not manufacture light. We needed God the Creator to continue his creative work “out of nothing.”

Similarly, though, there are times in our lives, even as Christians, when we find ourselves in very dark places. Situations in this fallen world often appear physically and emotionally impossible. With all of our resources exhausted, we stare at the wall, and though we may not pray it, we think it - “Lord, I really need you to create something out of nothing.”

When we hit the unwillingness of our deepest being, and it doesn’t budge; when we know that we should forgive, and we just can’t; when we want to desire God, but we just don’t; when we want to cry about something sad, but we feel numb; and when we want to love like we ought, but our well seems dry, we don’t need a god who needs our help to bring us to life.  We need the One who is mighty, magnificent, all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present. The only basis for faith and hope in our present world is to cling to the God who created everything out of nothing - even our salvation.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Glory of Adoption

Here is a post from my good friend Adam Viramontes.  I have been changed, encouraged, and even convicted by Adam, and his wife Heather's story of adoption.  On that basis, I feel obliged to share his convictions with you.

THE GLORY OF ADOPTION by A. Viramontes

Why is it that when we consider the word ‘adoption,’ the first thing that typically comes to our mind is earthly adoption? We think of delicate newborns, confused toddlers and rebellious teenagers in need of unconditional acceptance and tangible love. We think of the often difficult and discouraging paperwork process and financial burdens of adopting children into families. While I’m not suggesting that these are not realities of adoption—I have personally experienced them—I would like to see our initial paradigm shift from the earthly to the heavenly. Adoption is always heavenly before it is earthly. Without an accurate understanding and pervasive experience of our spiritual adoption, we will never grasp the profundity of earthly adoption.

It is unfortunate how little our understanding of God’s vertical adoption influences our culture’s understanding of horizontal adoption. Consider these brief reflections on spiritual adoption:

1. God only adopts children with ‘issues.’ There is nothing in humanity that moves God to adopt us. There is no lack of branches in God’s family tree; the Trinitarian family is sufficient for eternity. The magnificence of adoption is discovered when a contrast is made between the person adopting—the great and glorious God—and the objects of adoption—miserable sinners, children of wrath and disobedience by nature. We are not cute, cuddly and lovable newborns. We are not children that ‘deserve a better life.’ Apart from Jesus Christ—God’s eternal, only-begotten, natural Son- all of God’s children are those ‘problem kids.’ God did not scour the earth to find ‘perfect children,’ rather he embraced the kids with the most ‘baggage’ and declared them as his own!

2. Spiritual adoption is expensive. If you think adopting children is expensive on earth, consider the fees of spiritual adoption. The God who owns the ‘cattle of a thousand hills’ and has endless resources at his fingertips secured our adoption with a priceless payment- the life of his only ‘biological’ child. Not only was Jesus Christ put to death to pay our debt; his death was brutal and vicious. In the death of Christ, our adoptive Father poured out the fullness of his wrath and the heat of his anger for our rebellion against him on his Innocent Son. This was the only form of payment that was acceptable for this adoption transaction—no grants, tax-credits or loans accepted—merely a shameful and cursed death on a cross to an undeserving, yet willing, Older Brother.

3. Spiritual adoption is a past action that is secured forever. Because of the nature and sufficiency of the death of Christ, adoption into God’s family is forever. Because our adoption rests on the object of faith and not the strength of our faith, we can rest assured that the final judgment of adoption has been signed and sealed. God legally declares our innocence (justification), welcomes us into his family with full rights to the inheritance (adoption), transforms our lives into the image of his Son (sanctification) and promises to deliver us to eternal life and peace in his Kingdom (glorification). God will never revoke these promises. We will never be ‘returned to sender,’ regarded as ‘damaged goods,’ or declared unfit for the family. We are not even referred to as ‘adopted children,’ in Christ, we are simply sons and daughters of the living God. Accepted and welcomed forever.

4. Spiritual adoption deserves to be imitated in the earthly realm. The premise of this post was for us to recognize that adoption is always heavenly before it is earthly. While I hope I have communicated some of this clearly, I don’t want us to neglect the earthly implications of our spiritual adoption. The vertical necessitates the horizontal. Reconciliation with God necessarily demands reconciliation among humanity. When we consider the glorious doctrine of adoption, how much more are we inclined to mirror our Adoptive Father in our own lives?

Two Different Fathers: The Church and Absentee Fatherism

I wrote an article for Holy Culture concerning the similarities between common church methodologies and the common trend of absentee "fatherism."  Here is a section from the article:

"The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how we have allowed this distorted view of fatherhood to influence how we represent and embody Christ’s church in the world. If the marriage union is one of the most significant ways that we are to see and experience Christ’s relationship to His church, it should not surprise us that the utter breakdown of marriages in our culture is deeply affecting our perceptions of how we Christians ought to represent Christ in and to the world around us. It has been my observation that we have allowed the fatherly role in our culture to cloud our understanding of our Father’s role in heaven. Consequently (and tragically) the fallen world sees a heavenly Father who is merely a weekend playmate and a guy who is supposed to send us a check every month.

If we are honest, we would have to say that most churches do the same things. Church is a place where we go on the weekends to have fun, and, if we get in a bind, it writes checks too. I am not downplaying the importance of weekend worship services and events. Nor am I undermining efforts that churches make to provide financial help to individuals in need. However, when the church is only these things, it has failed to be the embodiment of Christ on earth, and has become the embodiment of the all-too-common absentee father. At this juncture, it would be appropriate to point out a few ways in which Christ is distinctly different from our common distorted perceptions."

You can read the entire article here.

Moral Perversion and College Athletics

I am reading a book called Not the Way It's Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga.  I must say that this book paints a picture of sin that is more thorough and detailed than any resource I have encountered on the subject.  We typically think of sin as a single act of one individual that begins and ends with that individual.  Plantinga's biblically grounded treatise, however, describes it more as a vine with many relational branches, that attach, infect, and even steal the life out of other living things, throughout long periods of time.

In one chapter, Platinga describes the horrible nature of perversion.  "To pervert something", he states, "is to twist it so that it serves an unworthy end instead of a worthy one or so that it serves an entirely wrong end."  He goes on to say that one of the greatest examples of perversion of judgment in our day can be found in college athletics.

He writes: University athletic programs, especially men's football and basketball, often develop a life of their own that has little to do with higher education.  Some of these programs might just as naturally be attached to meat-packing plants as to universities.  Ordinarily the celebrity coaches of major sports programs claim to be teaching teamwork and building the kind of character that will prepare their proteges for careers as good citizens.  Still, wise educators ask, How often in good society do you become a hero for knocking some other good citizen's helmet off?  How often is blind obedience taught in place of the courage of conviction?  How often is intimidation taught under the guise of tenacity?  How often is manipulation and deliberate rule violation taught as strategy?  How often is composure and sportsmanship mistaken for lack of effort?

I often struggle to find out what exactly I love so much about college football.  I'd love to say it's the good competition, strategy and sportsmanship; but I am not so sure that I have kept my heart from loving the perversion of good things.  When the height of human experience (let's get real, football games are the height of human experience in America right now) is to watch one human pridefully triumph over another; when we exalt that victor's physical strength over his moral responsibility to the point where we lose sight of the greater need for moral strength altogether; and when our commitment to these image bearers lasts only as long as their athletic career, we must approach the subject with far more caution and with our spiritual eyes wide open.

I do find it somewhat ironic that we praise a kid for knocking another kid's helmet off in a game, while we call him a complete idiot when he takes that same behavior and commits the same act after the game is over.  I know that the context and the rules change after the game; but I am not oblivious to the fact that the contextual lines might be blurred a bit in a 19 year old's mind who has just felt the praise of 90,000 people.  That much praise, given to a person that age, is more likely to become a breeding ground perverting judgment than a platform for judicial citizenship.

Am I saying we should abandon college athletics completely?  I don't know.  Something must have a good purpose before it can be perverted.  Therefore, college athletics may not need removal, but redemption.

The Rest of the Rest (10/8/11)

Church
Carl Trueman continues to give accurate analysis and criticism of the American evangelical church's tendency towards exalting mega-church pastors to celebrity status.  The point in many of his recent posts, this being one of them, is that, while not all mega-churches fall into this, most do what it takes to bring in the people and the money.  Consequently, things that entertain the church, shouldn't.  Topics that occupy space in church media, shouldn't.  And even many who lead these churches, shouldn't be [leaders of the church at all].  The people and the material that the church are desiring fall more under the category of entertaining, than evangelical - more comedy, than news about the Creator.  While I too understand there are exceptions to this,  I have not yet found an objectionable point in Trueman's writing on the subject.


Books
Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald Whitney is a decent book for those who are regular "Church-going" folks who don't tend to read a lot of Christian literature.  For those who read a lot, reading the table of contents may just be enough for you.  In this work, Whitney answers some very important and pointed questions such as, "Do you thirst for God?" "Are you more loving?" and "Are you sensitive to God's presence."  He looks to the classics for diagnosis and remedy, quoting multiple times in multiple chapters theologians like Spurgeon and Edwards.  Overall, I was dissatisfied with a particular shallowness of the book.  Whitney seldom addresses why people may not thirst or love or delight in God's presence.  More or less, the chapters explain the question, quote from theologians concerning it, and give practical ways to address it.

Technology
For all of you iPhone lovers (or coveters) out there, here is a great article by a guy who gave his iPhone up and has not looked back.  Most of us know the technology struggles that are becoming more and more common, if not down right aggravating.  The author was convicted by his continuous neglect of discipline and even people; but his continuing devotion to a little device - the iPhone.  I'm not trading in my iPhone after reading this, but I am more aware of certain ways the iPhone (and other phones like it) may cause me  and others around me to erroneously and irresponsibly rearrange our responsibilities.

And, no, I don't have any thoughts concerning Steve Jobs death other than that, from what I know, he died without Christ.  I am reminded every time I see a video or read an article about his contributions and accomplishments of the biblical irony of gaining (or changing) the world but losing one's soul (Mark 8:36).  Would that Apple never existed on earth if that meant Jobs would have known Christ in heaven.

Life and Gospel
There is a common word floating around that accurately characterizes my life right now - struggle.  In this video, Paul Tripp gets right to the point and purpose of disappointment, selfishness, and struggles in life.  Watch this.

Funny Friday (10/8/11)...You Gotta See This!

Avoiding Traps In Defending Your Faith

It is not uncommon for Christians to engage in a conversation about the existence of God.  More times than not, these discussions boil down to a sort of evidential tug-of-war between the two parties. Whoever has the most evidence on their side wins.  While such conversations can be good, they can turn ugly if the Christian falls into, what I call, the evidential trap - a conversation that accepts only evidential terms, from the outset, and excludes faith-based statements that are beyond the reason's ability to prove.

For example, if a Christian mentions matters of faith, such as the Bible or Christ, the evidentialist vehemently says, "Wait!  You aren't allowed to speak of those things here!"  If the Christian unquestionably concedes, he has fallen for the trap.  At this point, Christ is not set apart as holy (1 Peter 3:15), but set aside as a subject to be proven by His creation.  Christians must avoid such traps at all costs.

To do so we have to first be ready to expose the flaws in the trap.  Perhaps one of the greatest flaws is that it assumes that evidence alone is sufficient for all certain knowledge - in this case, to prove God's existence.  The truth is, however, that all evidence is interpreted and thus ultimately vulnerable to the subjectivity of human reason.  Because of this vulnerability, conclusions based on evidence alone always leave room for either denying God's existence or holding that His existence is only probably true.

Second, the trap presupposes that evidence is more authoritative than God's Word.  If God speaks (which He does!), then His Word is sufficient to convince, convict and assure us of His existence and salvation.  It is treasonous to say, "The Bible doesn't convince me.  I need to see evidence." This leads me to my third point.

Third, Christians must be equipped and ready to expose the faith commitments of the trap.  To say that evidence alone can prove God's existence is itself a faith based comment - something that is unprovable by the evidence itself.  In other words, to say that God cannot be known by any other epistemological means, is itself a statement that is beyond the ability of reason to prove.  Very simply, the Christian has every right to stop the conversation by saying that he/she does not agree with the premise that certain knowledge comes only via empirical evidence.  Revelation is also a sufficient way that people know things.

Further, in this line, I have not found a single evidentialist that is not relying heavily upon statements from others when promoting their views.  Most have not tested the evidence themselves but merely quote authors they have read.  The Christian should reduce the conversation to what it really is:  The word of a person vs. The Word of God.  Christians, in trusting the Words of God, should not fall into the trap of conceding that a person's words are more reliable and more authoritative than God's Words.

Finally, it is a fallacious appeal to authority to say that a kindergardener, who trusts the Word of God, could not correct the most educated unbelieving scientist concerning the existence of God.  In other words, a PhD who writes a book about his theory of creation, can be silenced by a small child who simply says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  When the good doctor asks what evidence the child has for her conclusion, it is completely rational for the child to answer, "The Bible tells me so."

I Wish My Sins Didn't Affect Others...

In a fallen world, sin is always followed by the prepositional phrase "against another."  It never occurs alone, no matter how secret the sin may be.  Its fingers always reach into the lives of those around us.  And, most importantly, its stench always reaches into the heavens.

I wish this theology wasn't true.  I wish that I could disagree with my own orthodoxy concerning my own sin.  But I can't.  Truth is a person, a divine person, who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and who cannot be touched, manipulated or relativized by me or anyone else.  Therefore, I am forced to struggle with the implications of my own fallenness.  My sin is always against another.

When I slow down to consider my role as a husband, I can barely bear the weight of it.  My wife, who is closest to me, is ironically the one who is most likely to see, and be affected by, my untamed sins. Then, I move down the relational line to my children.  For some reason I am more sorrowful when it comes to them, and can even be brought to tears when I think about the ways they might be formed and molded by their sinful daddy.  Will my little girls grow up and have acceptance issues?  Will I hear my son one day tell me, "I never felt like you loved me."?

I'd also like to think that life isn't as serious or significant as it really is.  Sometimes I want to sit my kids in front of the television and sleep the day away; or, get a sitter so I can escape to search the web or read some theological book.  Other times, I lose hope altogether and over-desire a place that doesn't exist in this life - a place where I am sinless and not accountable for my actions; a place where only my good deeds affect people and my bad ones sort of evaporate before they touch another human being.

I'm going to resist now the ever-so-easy pastoral transition that goes something like, "But God...now I feel better."  I can't say that I opened by Bible today and with my eyes closed pointed to just right the verse to fix me.  I'm not fixed.  I will say, however, that the reality of the above has forced me to think seriously about Christ, and how He is more significant and serious than the topic of a sermon or paper; that He is more than some theological avenue to let people know how much I know about Him.

Through these difficult weeks, I have been agonizing over the implications of the atonement.  I have asked Him time and time again, "Jesus, I know you have redeemed me from the slavery of sin.  But, what about the relational consequences of my sin?  What about my sin "against others?"   What about my children?  What about my wife?  Do you redeem that too?"

The orthodoxy that I previously desired to reject, now gloriously comes to rescue.  The nature of the Savior cannot be understood apart from the nature of sin.  If the tragedy of sin is that it is always against God and others, then I must understand redemption in the same relational context. The gospel informs me that Christ's redemption alone can heal the relational places my sin has wounded.   In other words, my hope is found in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

In Him, redemption provides healing for every sinful wound.  At this point, I rest in this.  That I only need to show my wife and children Christ, who, unlike daddy, perfectly loves, saves, and redeems. Unable to fix what I have done, I am forced to abandon my selfish ship.  By openly and honestly repenting to those I have hurt, I direct them to the Healer, the Refuge, who alone deserves our worship, and who is the only true object of our faith.

One Altar Call, Many Wounded

About a year and a half ago I went to a Christian rally where about four thousand people, mainly youth, gathered to hear about Jesus.  The organizer of the event, whose name will remain unsaid, did a great job getting people to a place where they were ready to hear the gospel.  The testimonies, music and prayers were Christ-centered and God glorifying.  For that, I commend them.

But when it came time for the "altar call", that is when my encouragement quickly became concern. While I am not a huge fan of altar calls, I usually refrain from criticizing those who utilize them.

If you live in the south, you have undoubtedly experienced the end of the sermon when the preacher tells everyone to bow their head and close their eyes.  After this, he typically directs people in self-reflection, helping them to understand their need for the Savior.  This is usually followed by a brief gospel presentation.  That night, the preacher was on this track.  So far so good.  The next few minutes, on the other hand, were not so good.  

After presenting the gospel, he ensured that everyone still remained with their head bowed and eyes closed.   This was undoubtedly done to calm the nerves of those who were ready to accept Jesus, and where to indicate such by the raising of their hands.  This could be a very embarrassing moment for a 12-14 year old, to let four thousand people know that they were a sinner in need of a Savior.

The preacher asked them to raise their hands.  They did.  All I could think about was Spurgeon's comment, that a repentant sinner, after hearing and believing the gospel for the first time, is like a wounded deer, who would rather go off to lick his wounds than parade his decision before men.

A minute or so later, the preacher told them they could put their hands down and that everyone could raise their heads and open their eyes. I was wholly unprepared, however, for what he said next. He told those that raised their hands to stand and come up front!  After about half reluctantly did so, he then told the rest that if they denied Jesus before men then, Jesus says, He will deny them before the Father.

I almost stood up and openly rebuked this man.  I could hardly stay seated.  Not only did he take this Scripture out of context, but he used it to murder the conscience of young believers.  That night, kids were lead to believe that the Christ who forgave all of their sins would now deny them before the Father because they were scared to "go up front." Perish the thought.

The fact that the name of this organization would be recognized by most, if not all, of those who read this post leads me to believe that there are probably thousands of kids who may be burdened in their conscience for not answering that altar call.  If you are one of those people, or know someone who might be, let faith alone in Christ alone be your creed.  Remain in your seat, trust in Christ, be set free.  Those who trust Christ will never be denied.

The Priorities of God: Ordinary Preferred Over Extraordinary

Miracles can be defined as extraordinary manifestations of God's covenant lordship (See Frame, The Doctrine of God).  While every word in the definition is important, the word extraordinary stands out to most as that which, in our day, is either highly coveted or strongly doubted.  Those who believe in God, along with those who desire to see proof of His existence, often look to the miraculous as the final linch-pin of certainty - the convincing straw that breaks their unbelieving back.  For those who actively desire to disprove God's existence, they deny any possibility of miracle, presupposing from the outset an ordinary explanation for the extraordinary.

At first glance, the desires of both camps are pretty reasonable.  Believers should want to see more miracles; and, unbelievers should want to see none.  We shouldn't, however, be so quick to agree with either.  I propose that things should be just the opposite.  Consider two brief thoughts.

First, if unbelievers were consistent with their presuppositions, they should desire the extraordinary. The reasoning is simple.  If the universe is random and if all of life and matter was brought about by chance, then it seems to me that ordinary events would be more miraculous than extraordinary ones. If it is ordinary for life to appear randomly and by chance out of nowhere, I see no reason why it would be extraordinary for a BMW to magically appear in my driveway - given enough time of course. Simply put, the unbeliever would find more evidence for his worldview in a highly extraordinary world - in a world where random things happened all of the time, without particular explanation, and without any known purpose.  But, as it presently stands, the ordinary is the saw the unbeliever uses to cut off the branch upon which he sits.

Second, while God has used the extraordinary in glorious and redemptive ways, His priority is to use the extraordinary to prepare for the ordinary.  This is perhaps the most significant point I learned from Frame's discussion on the topic of Miracle.  He writes, "We often value spectacular experience over day-to-day routine.  But God's priorities are different."  In Genesis we see that the extraordinary flood is followed by the covenant of preservation where God promises ordinary and regular seasons (Gen 8:22).  During the wilderness years, Israel was fed in an a miraculous way; but, their goal was to finally be in the land of Promise where normal harvests were the fulfillment of God's promise.  And finally, Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, tells them that the miracles of tongues and prophesy are far less important than ordinary love - for, love is that which remains.

Miracles are important, and are one way that the Lord manifests (and has manifested) His covenant faithfulness and lordship.  It is the testimony of both Scripture and natural revelation that the ordinary is a glorious spectacle of His power, grace, and redemption.  The believer and the unbeliever alike should stand in awe of the ordinary, for it is Jesus Christ Himself who holds it all together.

The Rest of the Rest (10/1/11)

Books
James K. A. Smith's Desiring the Kingdom, is a very thought provoking work.  The main message of the book is that our philosophical anthropology, especially post-Enlightenment, is too reductionistic, focusing our educational efforts on informing the mind while neglecting the more foundational work of forming the heart and affections.  Contra Cartesian thought, we are more than just thinkers.  And, contra Augustinian thought, we are more than mere believers.  Smith argues with needed repetition that we are, at the most fundamental level, lovers who are pulled through life (rather than pushed) by our imaginative affections (rather than our minds) toward the telos of the good life.  While this book is more philosophically than biblically referenced, I appreciate Smith's recognition that we are more than just minds in a body. Humans are so much more than thinkers...we are first and foremost worshipers.

I wanted so much to like reading The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture, edited by Carl Trueman and Paul Helm.  But I found it to be far more academic than the title let on.  It should rather have been entitled something like The Trustworthiness of God: Authority Preserved Despite Historical and Biblical Criticisms of the Last Half Century.  With all due respect for the authors and contributors, this book is not for the layperson.  It is a compilation of articles by seminary professors and theologians whose goal is to confront and correct the critics of the nature and authority of Scripture.  Don't get me wrong, this is a much needed and very informative book.  It is better suited however, for the seminary syllabus than the Amazon Wish List.

Miscellaneous
This is a very insightful article by Carl Trueman entitled Is the Reformation Nearly Over?  In it Trueman reminds us that the Reformation was not just about theology, but also about ecclesiology.  Communities under the dominion of Medieval Catholicism were plagued with pastoral absence as well as ministerial fetishism.  Ironically, the priests, bishops and popes, while highly neglectful of their pastoral duties, where, by the very people they neglected, worshipped.  Dr. Trueman points out that modern evangelicalism, with its praise of and tendency toward the multi-site mega church model, is falling into the same deadly patterns.  The pastors of these churches are, for the most part and for most people, absent.  The shepherds, while highly esteemed, don't know their flocks.  Because they are celebrities, they are untouchable - and this is antithetical to how things should be.

This article discusses the gospel-centered truth that Christ paid for our sins and how this protects and guards us from desiring that the people we love (namely, our spouses) pay for their own.

Here is a must read for both men and women about backward porn addiction.  It discusses the temptation that women have to "capture the gaze of men."  The question at the end of the article should stick with us all while we shop and chose clothing to wear.

Music

Here is Lecrae's testimony on I Am Second.  This is well done.

Cool Stuff
Google makes the Dead Sea Scrolls available online.  I don't think I can ever forgive myself for not visiting the DSS exhibit that came to Mobile.  But now, thanks to Google, I can view the documents in high digital resolution on the web.

Take a look at these phenomenal pictures of eyes.  While you look, think "random molecular activity" and "by chance" and "without design."  After those thoughts strike you as absurd, worship the Creator, Jesus Christ for His excellency and wonderful creation.

Good Quote
Nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms.  J. Gresham Machen

Ranting
Can I just vent for a second?  I hate - yes, hate - front loader washing machines!  For some reason all of the clothes decide while they are being washed that they want to tangle themselves together.  Then! when I go to pull them out, about four or five articles of wet clothing fall on the ground (doesn't this defeat the purpose?)!  This may be no big deal to those of you who are shorter than 6'9", but when I have to constantly bend down and pick up clothes off of the floor, I feel more like I'm doing squats for Sean T than laundry for my home!

Friday Giveaway! The Essential Works of Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson was a Non-Conformist Puritan preacher at St. Stephen's, Walbrook in London before the Great Ejection in 1662. Though not quite as famous as other Puritans, Watson is widely considered one of the most readable. His works are gospel saturated classics held in high regard by many theologians such as Charles Spurgeon.

Today, a good friend of mine, would like to give away a copy of The Essential Works of Thomas Watson, published by GLH Publishing.  You don't want to miss this opportunity!  This book, in Kindle format, includes 15 classic writings from the beloved Puritan.  The contents alone should be enough to make your mouth water:

-A Body Of Divinity
-The Doctrine Of Repentance
-A Divine Cordial (All Things For Good)
-Religion Our True Interest (The Great Gain Of Godliness)
-The Godly Man's Picture
-The Beatitudes
-The Art Of Divine Contentment
-The Lord's Prayer
-The Ten Commandments
-The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm
-The Mischief Of Sin
-The Christian's Charter
-The Duty Of Self-Denial
-A Christian On The Mount
-Sermon On The Eve Of The Great Ejection

All you have to do is be the 5th person to email The Rest of Sunday and a copy of this ebook will be gifted to you.  All that is needed is your name and email address for the gift to come to you via Amazon.

GLH Publishing, unlike other Kindle publishers, has done a fantastic job with this work.  The contents are all hyperlinked and the formatting is commendable.  They have also informed me that this volume is on sale for the month of October for $6.99, down from $9.99.

So...shoot me an email and you just might be reading Watson over the weekend!  Have a great Friday!

How Premarital Cohabitation Destroys Marriage and Distorts The Gospel

In a recent post, Glenn Stanton of The Line: Bringing Focus to the Single Years, writes about what cohabitation does for marriage.  In writing this, Stanton shows, even statistically, the many downfalls that often accompany premarital cohabitation.  While the majority of these couples, some 75% of them, see cohabitation as an aggressive step toward marriage, the reality, however, is that this decision is actually proving to be an aggressive step toward abuse and even divorce.

The many warnings from Scripture, along with the undeniable sociological statistics, should prove to be a guard and guide for singles (as well as married couples) in an over-sexualized culture.  In other words, the more we are bombarded with false depictions of the “glorious life in premarital cohabitation” via television, radio and other media, the more we need to hear the truth that those who choose to live this way are in rebellion against God, and are, in reality, relational train wrecks.  As said above, the reasons for this are ultimately theological.  Consider a few points.

First, that we may not, and should not, allow the clear distinctions between lust and love to be blurred.  A couple who decides to partake in the glories of marriage before vowing to commitment in marriage are more in lust than they are in love.  A man who decides to rebel against God in pursuing his lusts cannot possibly love the woman he is lusting after as Christ loves the church. 

Second, the bed that the couple shares in cohabitation is not the bed that they will share in marriage.  It is a common saying that lust seeks to fill the bed before the vows and then to empty it after them. Sex before marriage is nothing but selfishly taking from another individual.  This is very different from the biblical picture of sex described as two people selflessly giving to each other.  Lust is not a passive, lifeless reality; but one that is actively rebellious, desiring to kill and destroy.

Last, those who desire to have the consummation before the commitment ultimately distort the gospel.  The saying is true that “love waits.”  True, gospel-centered love, is content with the commitment that is now, and with the promised consummation that is not yet.  The life in-between is one of patient endurance, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that clings to the promise in faith and looks with great expectation to the hope that is to come.   But those who would have the consummation now communicate that there is no future hope, and that there is no Risen Christ who is trustworthy, good, and worth waiting for. 

There is a right way to become married that glorifies the Christ who both ordains it as well as communicates through it (Eph 5).  This same Christ, however, will not allow His Name to be profaned by a pseudo-union that is superficially bound by selfishness and lust.  When two people, on the other hand, commit to each other, consummate the commitment, and move forward to live in a glorious marriage, they proclaim the Lord who selflessly and sacrificially died for His Church, who will come again in the great consummation, and who will live with them forever in glory.

It is Not Reasonable to Live by Man's Reason Alone

While following the Lord, people often come to the end of their logical rope: Moses finds himself on the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army pursuing; the people of Israel are led into the wilderness with no food or water; and even the multitudes along with the disciples find themselves following Christ to a remote area with only a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread to sustain them.    

If we take our Bible seriously, these are not uncommon situations.  More times than not Christ leads us to places where we are forced to ask: How do we survive now that we are here?  We then logically search all options and are left with the helpless answer: I have no idea.  When we come to the end of our logical rope, we have no other option but to look to Christ and simply trust what He says.

This is why the Word of God is so important.  In it Christ informs and instructs us through seemingly impossible situations.  He shows off that way.  We are too often confined by the limits of our own logic and reason.  Consequently, obedience becomes more difficult, and, in some cases not a "reasonable" option.

But when we listen to, and trust, the Word of the omniscient and omnipotent Lord, we finally find a Refuge where logic and reason are freed from the confines we place upon them. Christ alone has all the facts.  Therefore, our faith in Him compels and frees us to leave the limits of our own inductive processes. And when we trust Him in doing so we finally receive logical reasons to trust, love, hope, and obey.

Christianity is not about leaving reason for blind faith.  Quite the contrary, it is about being united, by faith, to the One who frees reason from the limits of the fallen human mind.  In Christ, we do not know everything; but, we boast only in the fact that we know the One who knows everything.  Faith in Christ therefore, is the only rational approach to life.  Having said all of this, we can conclude (and even quote:) that man cannot live on his logic alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4).

God Is Not Merely An Inference

This is a great quote from D.A. Carson in The God Who is There on how God is not merely the end of an argument after we have looked and analyzed all of the evidence.  While many may think that they can observe all of nature in a non-theistic sort of way, on a neutral playing field, and make conclusions as to whether God exists or not, this practice is, at its core, morally rebellious as well as logically inconsistent.  More on that later, but for now, here is Carson:

"At the end of the day God is not merely an inference, the end of an argument, the conclusion after we have cleverly aligned the evidence.  But if you begin with this God, the testimony to his greatness in what we see all around us is heart stopping.  It takes an enormous act of will on the part of even the most cynical of scientists instead to look at it all and say, "Ah, it's just physics. Stop admiring it.  Don't do that.  There's no design.  It's just molecules bumping into molecules."

Reasons For Limited Atonement

One of the most difficult of the Reformed doctrines is the doctrine of Limited Atonement.  Most people recoil at first for decent reasons - they don't like to use the word limited to describe the work of Christ on the cross.

As noble as this may be, we may not allow our own goals to obscure the goals of our Triune God.  Even further, as much as many might attempt to "unlimit" the atonement, it is almost impossible to propose any position at all that is without some type of limits.  In other words, everyone limits the atonement whether they know it or not, either in scope or sufficiency.

Perhaps the best explanation of this truth is found in John Owen's The Death of Death.  Here is a clip that is often sited because of its logical force regarding the topic (note: I will edit and comment on the section to allow for smoother reading):

Owen writes,

God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for, either
1. all of the sins of all men, or 
2. all the sins of some men, or 
3. some sins of all men.  

If the last, some sins of all men, then all men have some sins to answer for, and so shall no man be saved; for if God enter into judgment with us, though it were with all mankind for one sin, no flesh should be justified in his sight...

In other words, option 3 is eliminated.  If Christ does not undergo the pains and punishment of hell for all of man's sins, then there will be at least some sins that man will have to account for. This view of the atonement is not sufficient to finally save.

If the second, that is it which we affirm, that Christ in their stead and room suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the world...

This is the Reformed doctrine stated and further advocated and explained in the rest of the book.

If the first, why, then, are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins?  You will say, "Because of their unbelief; they will not believe."  But this unbelief, is it a sin or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it, or not?  If so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death?  If he did not, then did he not die for all their sins?  Let them choose which part they will. 

Owen's argument here makes Option 1 logically untenable.  Unless one embraces Universalism, he/she must leave Option 1 in search for another.

If you have not read this book, and are aware of the debate as well as the implications surrounding it, I would highly recommend it to you.  Owen is not easy to read, but the reward for treading the difficult pages is well worth it.